My friend has all the same types of mods as I do. We both have .82 GT30R's, Perrin downpipes, and Perrin EL Headers. He has an APS 3" catback. I have an SPT 3" catback. He bought he EL headers before I did and his car sounds very nice. No "rumble" but that's all that changed as for the sound as far as I could tell..and he says, less highway drone.

So I jump on the bandwagon and get the same headers. Now mine sounds like honeybees in my exhaust. Not noticed on the highway much. And not annoying after boost comes on, but in the early revs, revving in neutral, and when casually accelerating from a stop.....straight tuner boy Honda! Oh how I hate that sound! The exhaust note over the whole rev range has raised. The mild note that I noticed during highway cruise is now higher pitched.

So I'm in search of a new catback that will kill this horrible buzzing exhaust sound. I know the APS works. If you have the EL headers and not high pitched buzzing exhaust note, what cat back are you using.

Thanks.

Edit to make these lists of responses (11/06/06)

Bee, tin-like, raspy Civic sounding
Catbacks when combined w/ EL headers
1 SPT 3" single tip
2 Buschur Racing Catback
3
4
5
6


Better sounding
Catbacks when combined w/ EL headers
1 APS 3" single tip
2 Invidia Ti Race
3 JIC Spartan DE titanium along w/ a invidia catted downpipe
4 JIC 505ti
5 Blitz Nur Spec Touring
6 Perrin single-tip (one-pipe)
7 3" twin-tip B&B
8 MRT 3" catted turboback
9

My friend has all the same types of mods as I do. We both have .82 GT30R's, Perrin downpipes, and Perrin EL Headers. He has an APS 3" catback. I have an SPT 3" catback. He bought he EL headers before I did and his car sounds very nice. No "rumble" but that's all that changed as for the sound as far as I could tell..and he says, less highway drone.

So I jump on the bandwagon and get the same headers. Now mine sounds like honeybees in my exhaust. Not noticed on the highway much. And not annoying after boost comes on, but in the early revs, revving in neutral, and when casually accelerating from a stop.....straight tuner boy Honda! Oh how I hate that sound! The exhaust note over the whole rev range has raised. The mild note that I noticed during highway cruise is now higher pitched.

So I'm in search of a new catback that will kill this horrible buzzing exhaust sound. I know the APS works. If you have the EL headers and not high pitched buzzing exhaust note, what cat back are you using.

Thanks.

Custom APC from Pep boy's :lol: :D ;) jk

Don-

We just built an STi here at the shop with equal length headers and he has an Invidia Ti Race catback and it sounds really good. Nothing like a Honda, though it doesnt sound like a Subaru either. It has a fully built motor, upgraded bottom end (Sleeved, pistons, rods, bearings, ect..) and fully upgraded heads w/ stage 3 Crower cams, with a UR35R kit.

I think the key is to have a very free flowing rear muffler otherwise you will get the buzz.

-Matt

I have the Buschur Racing Catback and my car sounds like a Honda with the Perrin Headers.

Custom APC from Pep boy's :lol: :D ;) jk

Don-

It would be fitting.


Thanks for all the input so far guys.

I noticed the same thing when I put the an EL header on with m bosal/spt exhaust. Must be something in the design of that particular model. I know it sounded VERY nice with a stromung exhaust though.

I have a JIC Spartan DE titanium along with a invidia catted downpipe and perrin EL headers, it sounds great, zero droning, sounds like an evo for the most part.

I have APS header w/JIC 505ti and it is the best sound I can imagine.

nice. Ya im gonna get el headers too. Ive been hearing aps make the most. But perrins good too. And I just heard the gt spec el headers are really nice.

I cant wait to hear my car: ansa cat-back, invidia downpipe( no cats, no resonator), soon to be el headers and getting a big 16g from a friend.

Yeah I have the Perrin EL Headers with the JIC Ti catback. Sounds amazing I think. No drone at all and certainly not a Honda sound. Ti has its own sound for sure. Couple that with a .82 30R and you get a wicked sound.

-Mike

I would love to here an EL header with some of the quiet exhuasts like an EVO 2 or a Borla hush.

I had the greddy evo2, its a really nice exhaust. I just needed more NOISE.

I had Cobb catless TBE w/my APS header, before I switched to JIC, and it was QUIET. It was almost to quiet :devil: .

weird how it sounds like a 4cyl with el header. i'll never understand it :rolleyes:

Here's mine with APS EL header and APS catless Turboback. Listen with headphones or decent speakers and you can tell there is still plenty of 'bass' in the tone and not a lot of bumblebee. Don't mind the random "clink" sound every time i hit WOT, that's just my laptop's datalogger program signalling that it is logging. :lol:

http://wrx.dicknogs.net/multimedia/APSHeader_0002.wmv

weird how it sounds like a 4cyl with el header. i'll never understand it :rolleyes:

Not all 4cylinder cars sound the same. I've never heard and SRT-4 sound like a Civic with a fart can. With the restrictions removed from the exhaust system and larger pipes, the SRT-4 has one of the meanest deepest exhaust voices I've heard on a 4 cylinder car. Mine used to have quite a bit of bass, but the header changed everything.

Here's one of the sweetest sounding Sti's I've heard. Never heard one Civc sound even close to this, not even close to mine (pre-EL) for that matter.
~~right click, save as, Vibrant catback~~ (http://users.ev1.net/~zuela/sti/vibrant_onwrxsti.mpeg)

SRT4istehf4st3r!

I think the key is to have a very free flowing rear muffler otherwise you will get the buzz.

-Matt

actually...the more muffle the muffler, the less buzzing/raspy it is. So stick in some resonators

Perrin EL header, MadDad v2 one-piece downpipe, Perrin single-tip one-pipe cat-back (w/one included resonator) == no raspy, buzzy sound. I still did not like the sound much, but at least it was not super irritating. I ended up going back to an unequal length header because I wanted the sound in addition to the gains.

04 STi- APS EL header w/ MRT 3" catted turboback. A *TOUCH* louder than stock. Sounds NOTHING like a NA 4 banger. Nice growl without the "fart-can" rattle. I compare it to a sport bike at WOT.

I also used a 3" twin-tip B&B catback w/ APS catless DP w/ my APS EL header. The B&B catback sounds AWESOME. Very deep growl but LOUD

APS Header

No cat
3" Resonator after the DP
3" round muffler in the middle
3" Magnaflow muffler at the end
Yes... all 3

Very stealthy, no power loss

Synic EL header
Blitz Nur Spec Touring

Super quiet, pretty much stock quiet at idle. No buzzyness. Nice smooth tone when you give it some revs. Still has some bass to it.

Synic EL header
Blitz Nur Spec Touring

Super quiet, pretty much stock quiet at idle. No buzzyness. Nice smooth tone when you give it some revs. Still has some bass to it.

Thanks for info. It's been added to the list. Are you using the silencer?

Finally, an oval muffler popped up in this thread. I like mufflers that tuck away whereas the tip is most of what you see. I'm not into the angled mufflers, but I would certainly choose one over what I have now if it will kill the bees.

One thing that seems to be common amoung the "good" catbacks is that there is a resonator in the intermediate pipe. I wonder if that is the active ingredient that kills the bees.

Here's mine with APS EL header and APS catless Turboback. Listen with headphones or decent speakers and you can tell there is still plenty of 'bass' in the tone and not a lot of bumblebee. Don't mind the random "clink" sound every time i hit WOT, that's just my laptop's datalogger program signalling that it is logging. :lol:

http://wrx.dicknogs.net/multimedia/APSHeader_0002.wmv

:lol: :lol: :lol:

"Florida plates..... It figures" :lol: :lol: :lol:

FWIW,

I have a Mad Dad header, with the vibrant catback is was LOUD! I welded on a magnaflow race oval and an extra resonator and it's way quieter now.

Finally, an oval muffler popped up in this thread. Not reading every post? ;) Read #19. That's an oval muffler.

Not reading every post? ;) Read #19. That's an oval muffler.

Ya caught me slipp'n.
Added.

I'm looking at the Tanabe Medalion Touring. Anyone got this one with EL headers?

bump for the morning crowd.

One thing that seems to be common among the "good" catbacks is that there is a resonator in the intermediate pipe. I wonder if that is the active ingredient that kills the bees.
DING! DING! DING!
yups, that's it. IT helps muffle it some on our Turbo subarus. IF it was NA, one resonator isn't enough if running catless.

I'll second the Perrin single tip tbe (catless of course) My best friend is running this on his 06 STi with APS EL headers, and his set up does not sound all that much different than my 05 wrx with APS tbe (catless) and I'm running gt-spec unequal length headers on mine...I'd say his is a bit quieter once in boost than mine is.

Well, I went with one that no one mentioned. I hope I made a good choice. I bought a Tanabe Medalion Touring. It has a resonator in the intermediate pipe. Also it is supposed to be faily quiet while being a high performance catback. The noise suppression is supposedly due to a superior packing. I don't expect 93db, but I do expect less noise.

EL with a NurSpec R sounds like teh BLAHHHH...

bosal twintip with gp moto el headers.

sounds great, as far as i'm concerned.

Bought a borla hush...sounds stock, maybe even shhhhh-er?!

stealth FTW!

Well, I went with one that no one mentioned. I hope I made a good choice. I bought a Tanabe Medalion Touring. It has a resonator in the intermediate pipe. Also it is supposed to be faily quiet while being a high performance catback. The noise suppression is supposedly due to a superior packing. I don't expect 93db, but I do expect less noise.

Well, I never came back with a report, but if you looked the in classifieds, you may notice that I am looking for a used 3" APS catback. The Tanabe catback is better than what a I had before, but it's still too high pitched.

lol^^^ after two years...

I really like my Fujitsubo Power Getter with my EL headers. Not rumbly, but still recognizable as a Subaru.

You have EL Headers? Shame on you. J/K:lol:

Fujitsubo Legalis R or Leglis Super R

both sound awsome with EL headers.

I really like my Fujitsubo Power Getter with my EL headers. Not rumbly, but still recognizable as a Subaru.

The two inline mufflers looks promising for sound, but the non-straight-thru design scares me a bit.

Looks pretty straight through to me, but I could be wrong.

http://www.rallysportdirect.com/shop/fujitsubo-power-getter-cat-back-wrxsti-p-1809.html

Looks pretty straight through to me, but I could be wrong.

http://www.rallysportdirect.com/shop/fujitsubo-power-getter-cat-back-wrxsti-p-1809.html

I was finding a lot of pics like this one.
http://i.s.shopwiki.com/i/data/0x0/7/312/46/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ldmFzaXZlbW90b3JzcG9ydHMuY29tL21lcm NoYW50Mi9ncmFwaGljcy8wMDAwMDAwMS9mdWppdHN1Ym9fcG93 ZXJfZ2V0dGVyLmpwZw====.jpg
....showing a fairly large center muffler. Somewhere I saw a close-up and the entry pipe of the mid muffler was not inline with the exit pipe.

OH HECK NO!!!!!! This is much worse than how mine sounds.
Perrin EL headers with Fujitsubo RM-01A (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyuzhg1Jzco)

Mine really doesn't sound all that bad, just a bit high pitch. It sounds a bit like a deep muted brass instrument. some guys like the sound. I want it deeper like I know is available. I'm sure APS can't be the only solution.

Actually, mine doesn't sound much different than this one. Be sure to fast forward the video to the 2:52 mark. The parts be for that are annoying.
VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR_oukcP8xk&feature=related)

I was finding a lot of pics like this one.
http://i.s.shopwiki.com/i/data/0x0/7/312/46/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ldmFzaXZlbW90b3JzcG9ydHMuY29tL21lcm NoYW50Mi9ncmFwaGljcy8wMDAwMDAwMS9mdWppdHN1Ym9fcG93 ZXJfZ2V0dGVyLmpwZw====.jpg
....showing a fairly large center muffler. Somewhere I saw a close-up and the entry pipe of the mid muffler was not inline with the exit pipe.

I think they may have changed the design, because mine looks like the one in the link I sent. Mine is also a JDM unit so that may have something to do with it as well.

OH HECK NO!!!!!! This is much worse than how mine sounds.
Perrin EL headers with Fujitsubo RM-01A (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyuzhg1Jzco)

Mine really doesn't sound all that bad, just a bit high pitch. It sounds a bit like a deep muted brass instrument. some guys like the sound. I want it deeper like I know is available. I'm sure APS can't be the only solution.

Actually, mine doesn't sound much different than this one. Be sure to fast forward the video to the 2:52 mark. The parts be for that are annoying.
VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR_oukcP8xk&feature=related)

The sound quality on the first one is crap so it is hard to compare, but I will say mine sounds like the second video.